On Monday Crennel said that DA would be the starter for Today’s game against the Bronco’s. In fact he said he was the starter ‘as of right now’. Well, about three hours later, I was at home watching Sports Center when breaking news came up that Quinn would start for the Browns on Thursday. The analysis was that this was a moved prompted by the fans – the national media went off on us, but at the same time agreed that Quinn should be playing. Well, everyone agreed except Trent Dilfer. He had a lot of things to say about the Browns. He mentioned how ‘dysfunctional’ we are and how we would never win a championship. Look, Dilfer got run out of town so we could put Frye in. I get it. Dilfer obviously had a lot of things to say about the Browns that no one would listen to when he got demoted. Thanks for that great analysis Dilfer – that is about as unbiased as someone writing a self evaluation.
I feel horrible for DA. Was he the answer? Was he the guy who would lead us to our first championship since 1964? No, he wasn’t. Would he still be our starting QB today if BE hadn’t dropped 14 passes? Probably yes…but he still would not be the answer. He would not be the guy to lead us to a championship. But, he was a descent QB that did everything he could to win every game. He never blamed anyone else for the offensive’s troubles – he took it on himself. I respect that. I respect him. I hope there is a way for him to stay as a backup, but I don’t think he will be able too. I get that.
Here comes Quinn. He has a short week to prepare for his first meaningful playtime as a pro. Will he win? Will he be everything we hoped he would be? What will happen? I have no idea. No one does. If they think they know how this will play out – they are lying to you and to themselves. There is no way of judging how someone will perform under pressure until their back is against the wall. We will see what Quinn can do tonight.
I will admit I am a huge fan of him being an Ohio guy. I am a big fan of anyone who wore a Kosar Jersey before they could ever write “K” “O” “S” “A” “R”. Is he the next Kosar? No. There will never be another Kosar. The only thing Quinn and Kosar have in common – playing the Broncos in games that matter. If Quinn can beat the Broncos in his first start…that would a good start. If Quinn turns out to be great, he will be the next great Browns quarterback – he will stand alone in history just like Otto Graham, Brian Sipe, and Kosar (admittedly, I am leaving some out) – you can not compare them. They all played at different times, for different reasons, under different circumstances. All you can say is that they were all great and that, of course, were all Brown.
So what happens if Quinn is bad? We already know the answer to that. Look at this morning’s paper. He is the 11th quarterback the Browns have started since their ‘return’ in 1999. If he is bad he will become a trivia question for the die hards 30 years from now. He won’t be forgotten, but he also won’t be remembered.
